The Roadhouse Comes to Britain examines how the American idea of the roadhouse, a place of gangsterism, prostitution, gambling and booze was translated by the process of Americanisation in Britain into a country club for the newly motorised. English roadhouses such as the Ace of Spades and the Thatched Barn (pictured) provided 24 hour entertainment, swimming, dining and dancing on a massive scale.

Rene Cutforth recalled:

'There was more champagne than bitter drunk at the Ace of Spades but, all the same, it was considerably unbuttoned for the period: almost anybody could get in there so long as he had his hair appropriately slicked back… with perhaps a little Ronald Colman moustache, a single breasted flannel jacket, a pair of not too outrageous plus fours'